April Fools Disappoints But Great News As OLPC Hits Northern Territory Schools

With Easter and April Fool’s both upon us, I thought there’d be a bit of a tussle for my attention between good news stories and pranks to post about.

Not so.

Turns out the latest round of April fools jokes were less than inspiring.

Still, props to ZDNet for trying to get rumours about Google quitting Australia going (nice pic of Conroy, team)  and to the guys at Spreets for almost convincing me to take some time off to hang out at the beautiful sinking Eden Island in the Seychelles –  (you’ve got to dig a bit…which made that gotcha moment hurt even more…)

On the good new side, however, i was so pleased to read reports about the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program  hitting Yirrkala on the North East tip of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

I have strong personal ties to that area and have had been lucky enough to spend a lot of time with many amazing kids from there and nearby Nhulunbuy.

That whole area has been a driving force, both politically and culturally, in the building of ties between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, so it seems fitting that it is the starting point for a scheme that will help give the underprivileged kids of the area more of the opportunities that those in our cities have.

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But it doesn’t stop there. Over the next 12 months, the federal government has committed to supplying 15,000 laptops to remote schools across the inland and north.

So, as I head off for the Easter long weekend, I’ll do so pleased with the knowledge that there are people in Government who understand the importance of technology as an enabler. That’s a nice change from some of the nonsense we’ve seen lately.